Martin Li

    martin.mouse@163.com

    YIN SHUBING, a 26-year-old woman who grew up in Shenzhen, is getting a lot of attention lately. About a year ago, she established Qingtian Environment Protection Promotion Center, a nongovernment organization dedicated to collecting clothing donations and sending them to people in need, the first of its kind in the city.

    An industrial designer major, Yin insists that learning people’s needs before lending a helping hand is a prerequisite for effective charity work.

    Volunteer teacher

    Yin applied to be a volunteer teacher in underdeveloped Longnan, Gansu Province, after she graduated from Shenzhen University because she thought it was the best time in her life to be a volunteer. Yin’s assignment was teaching English to more than 280 students at a town primary school.

    “Among my students were children from local well-off families and from poor families. I realized what they needed most was excellent teachers, not material subsidies,” recalled Yin.

    Yin said that volunteer teaching experience taught her that, “if you want to help others, you have to learn what they need.”

    NGO set up

    Yin came back to Shenzhen and made friends with different people, including designers, artists, entrepreneurs, writers and people already involved in doing public good.

    “Many friends asked me what benefits could be gained from volunteering. There is a big difference between my friends and the people I met in Gansu when it came to values and views on life,” she said.

    Yin started thinking about what she could do to help Shenzheners, people who are usually busy chasing their dreams, stop and look for ways to reach out and help people in their community.

    “I focused on clothes recycling because many people simply throw away clothes they don’t want, even if they are in perfect condition. Meanwhile, there are other people who could really use those clothes. I wanted to connect this supply and demand in some way,” she said.

    By accident, Yin met Wen Dasheng, president of Shenzhen Shengdonghua Renewable Resources Co. Ltd. Wen was impressed by Yin’s idea because his company is dedicated to textile recycling.

    With Wen’s support, Yin set up her Qingtian center and began reaching out to people who were in need of clothes. Wen’s company sorted, cleaned and delivered used clothes to Yin’s center for free.

    More than 20 organizations and numerous individuals have received wearable used clothes from the company via the center.

    Accompanied by her supporters, including NGOs and enterprises, Yin visited areas under bridges, nursing homes, factory communes and villages with large populations of seniors in an effort to find people who needed clothes.

    Among the beneficiaries were homeless people, solitary seniors and low-income factory workers.

    In addition to support from Wen’s company, representatives from Yin’s center visited residential communities regularly to collect used clothing donations.

    Increasing attention

    Yin and more than 20 volunteers pay repeat visits to homeless people around Shenzhen to learn their location, their needs and even their bedtimes.

    “It is better to leave clothes beside them without waking them up,” she said.

    Yin’s efforts gradually gained attention from residents, enterprises, the media and NGOs, all of whom offered to help in various ways, including donating clothes, offering partnerships and providing subsidies.

    Lu Shiquan, director of the Shenzhen Medical Professional Service Center, contacted Yin and offered to clean and disinfect donated clothes for free.

    “It encouraged me to continue what I was doing. It might have seemed trivial to some people, but there was obviously a need,” said Yin.

    Keeping to grow

    Yin’s center has collected almost 10 tons of used clothes thanks to cooperation with partners such as Tencent, Konka and China Southern Airlines.

    Almost 10,000 clothing items have been delivered to people in need thanks to funding by individuals and companies.

    “I’m thinking of establishing a fund to expand what I’m doing so we can reach out to needy people in more parts of China and even abroad,” said Yin.

    Yin’s center only has three full-time members, including herself. However, Yin said she believes the center will keep growing and benefiting more people as long as it is managed the right way.

    Yin’s team will be collecting discarded clothes, books and other daily articles at Ecological (Shengtai) Square in OCT on Saturday between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

    Details on the center’s events are available at Sina Weibo account Qing-tian Huanbao (晴天环保).

“I focused on clothes recycling because many people simply throw away clothes they don’t want, even if they are in perfect condition. Meanwhile, there are other people who could really use those clothes. I wanted to connect this supply and demand in some way.”

— Yin Shubing